Troubleshooting Higher Esters and Hot Alcohol in a Kolsch

[cdburg]

I was a point high on the OG (1.047) and it got down to 1.008. I used the Wyeast Kolsch (2565) yeast, but I've used both it and the White Labs version many times. It fermented how I would have expected. It started quickly and finished in about a week. This batch just seems to have a touch more esters, or the flavors, or the esters are slightly different, than I remember in the past.

Brewing around moon cycles would definitely add a new element to brew planning...

[Ozwald]

Brewing around moon cycles would definitely add a new element to brew planning...

Sadly, they're on my calendar. Full, new, quarters & apogee/perigee. I can't say I plan around them, but I always know where we're at. I wish I was joking.

Edit:

June 23rd we have a full moon at perigee. I'm hoping for a clear sky.

[cdburg]

I tested the Ranco in the thermowell versus my Thermapen this morning, and the Ranco was about 1 F higher than the thermometer. Definitely good to know, but I don't think it's high enough to be the cause.

[cdburg]

I definitely know who to go to with lunar calendar questions then, should that be a factor.

Brewing around moon cycles would definitely add a new element to brew planning...

Sadly, they're on my calendar. Full, new, quarters & apogee/perigee. I can't say I plan around them, but I always know where we're at. I wish I was joking.

Edit:

June 23rd we have a full moon at perigee. I'm hoping for a clear sky.

[hoodie]

How long did it stay on the yeast? Maybe a little more time at a warmer temperature would have helped. My two-three sense is under pitching. The thing about Mr. Malty is, unless you have a microscope, you don't really know how much yeast your pitching or how viable they are. That yeast could have come from an abusive former owner.

[Ozwald]

I definitely know who to go to with lunar calendar questions then, should that be a factor.

Yeah, he goes by adamK around these parts I just keep track of the cycles on my whiteboard calendar in the kitchen. I'm no astrophysicist. I am an amateur radio operator, but pretty inactive on the HF bands & EME where that sort of stuff matters. I still check out SDO every day, mostly cause I find it interesting.[/nerd]

How long did it stay on the yeast? Maybe a little more time at a warmer temperature would have helped. My two-three sense is under pitching. The thing about Mr. Malty is, unless you have a microscope, you don't really know how much yeast your pitching or how viable they are. That yeast could have come from an abusive former owner.

That's a very likely possibility. Since it was mentioned that it finished up in about a week, was it kegged immediately after that or given another week to condition. I have a microscope & I still aim for a slight overpitch in almost all my recipes. There's a couple where I underpitch on purpose to stress the yeast out a little, for the flavors they produce. Everything else gets kegged after 2 weeks, but I let the underpitches run for 3ish even though they still hit terminal at roughly the same time. I should note that I'm not using a kolsch strain though & my experience with it is limited to about a half dozen batches or so. I certainly can't manipulate it the way I can with my house strain. Not as predictably anyways.

[cdburg]

How long did it stay on the yeast? Maybe a little more time at a warmer temperature would have helped. My two-three sense is under pitching.

It was done in about a week, but I think it stayed on the yeast for about two weeks total. That's pretty similar to how I've treated the yeast in the past. I had another beer going at the same time that was taking longer, so I wasn't in a rush to get it off the yeast. I did ramp it up to 63 F or so at the end, to help the yeaat dry it out and clean up.

My two-three sense is under pitching. The thing about Mr. Malty is, unless you have a microscope, you don't really know how much yeast your pitching or how viable they are. That yeast could have come from an abusive former owner.

I suppose it could have been underpitched, but I generally err on the high side of Mr. Malty (e.g 1.75 liter starter when 1.5 liters is recommended). I also suppose there could have been a trace of another yeast left in the carboy, but I'm usually using 1056, 001 or something similar, if I'm not using a Kolsch yeast. I wouldn't expect those neutral ale yeasts to throw esters at 60 F. Sulfer maybe, but if anything, I'd expect them to not do much (001) or be very clean (1056).

Right now, I'm leaning toward some kind of sanitization issue, somewhere. If not the bottle, maybe the transfer tubing. Time to replace some tubing and give the Better Bottles a thorough cleaning or replacement I guess.

How long did it stay on the yeast? Maybe a little more time at a warmer temperature would have helped. My two-three sense is under pitching. The thing about Mr. Malty is, unless you have a microscope, you don't really know how much yeast your pitching or how viable they are. That yeast could have come from an abusive former owner.

[Ozwald]

there could have been a trace of another yeast left in the carboy ... I'm leaning toward some kind of sanitization issue

That would be more of a cleaning issue, but it's left me rather puzzled. If there was a trace of yeast left in there from a previous batch I would expect that there would be other crap left behind as well. Namely, bacteria as it tends to be much more resilient than yeast. Did you try a forced ferment or leaving a bottle out warm?